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A kindergarten boy in northern Vietnam is still in unstable condition after he and three friends accidentally swallowed drain cleaner powder, doctors said Friday.

Families and teachers of the children, who live in Hung Yen Province, believed that they may have picked up a pack containing the chemical on their way to the kindergarten on Thursday morning. Teachers found the pack in the school after the incident.

They may have thought that the white power it contained was sugar and ate some of it.

Exposure to the chemical left the kids with ulcers in their mouths and throats and severe stomach ache. They were rushed to National Hospital of Paediatrics in Hanoi after being given first aid.

Three kids have been discharged after some treatments, but Nguyen Cong Hung, 5, is still being treated in the hospital. He has high fever, his lips are still bleeding and swollen, doctors said.

Doctors said they’d have to treat the ulcers in his mouth first before performing a scan of his throat to check if there was any other injury.The drain cleaners, referring to chemical-based consumer products that unblock sewer pipes or help to prevent the occurrence of clogged drains, usually contain corrosives of either alkalis or acids at high concentration.